OS/400 Media (deliberately unintuitive?)

[ibmfiles]

The OS/400 media I have has a few funny secrets about itself. First and foremost, all of the discs say "1 of 1", which is unlike IBM's other recovery media for their personal systems line... and their CD-ROM drivers like for Token Ring NICs...

The reason why putting "1 of 1" on all five of the discs is unintuitive, is because... each one should *technically* say 1 of 5, 2 of 5 etc. So then how is the order found? Apparently I would say by the reference number on each disc (CR1001, 1002, 1003 etc). And I would assume I_BASE_01 would also be the starting disc due to the 'base' in the name. Now--that means deliberate, sort of like how IBM didn't bother to colour code mouse and keyboard ports--or on the PS/2s just with "1 / 2" without any legends. Of course "1" was the keyboard

Oh and get this... every jewel case has a sticker that states "LOAN MEDIA - RETURN TO IBM". They were manufactured in the year 2000, I guess IBM just left a bunch of their vendors and parties with old media that they could care less about.

Here are the discs based on the main number that's printed on each... because each one says order 1 of 1, again, it's sort of difficult to determine in what order they (should) go:

#1 I_BASE_01
Ref.No.: CR1001

#2 B2924_01
Ref.No.: CR1002

#3 B2924_02
Ref.No.: CR1003

#4 B2924_03
Ref.No.: CR1004

#5 L2924_01
Ref.No.: CR1005

All discs have the following:
Product Number: 5755-AS5
Release:040000

Made in Canada :0)

Well... I hope that would demystify anyone who has the media and isn't sure what order to use. Keep in mind you'll need to use the diagnostic IPL from the operator panel prior to turning the machine on--so that it's on the correct mode.

[tingo]

Well, you're supposed to have the required IBM training OR pay for an IBM service agreement if you are using OS/400. You're not supposed to mess around with it if you don't know what you are doing

[ibmfiles]

Well, you're supposed to have the required IBM training OR pay for an IBM service agreement if you are using OS/400. You're not supposed to mess around with it if you don't know what you are doing

I don't know if training is still done for OS/400, there are some differences with that and the newer IBM i platform. Installing IBM i on POWER7 for instance, is going to entail slightly different procedure than installing OS/400 from Y2K on an AS/400e. And if you have an active IBM service agreement, chances are you're already on the latest platform and not still running an AS/400 from 1996.

So eventually the training for the older platforms will not be available anymore, regardless of money. Same reason why IBM won't compile a new OS/2 kernel from the ancient codebase--regardless of how much money is involved.